I am so lucky to able to create and share
my art with others everyday as my full time job. I absolutely love what
I do and it NEVER feels like work.

I have had other jobs and businesses over
the years that eventually did not feel like they were what I was
supposed to be doing, but since 1997, Pug Notes was what I did for joy,
a hobby in the background.

It all began on a sunny morning on Oct. 8,
1996, when Fred and I were driving home from a little farm in Fort
Lupton, CO with a tiny pug puppy that we named
Emmitt.

Fred was driving and I was holding Emmitt
in my hands. He had that funny bat dog pug expression that happens when
their ears are tipped straight up, their eyes are all buggy and happy
and they are smiling a wide grin with their pointy puppy teeth sticking
out.

Emmitt was my first dog ever, and I was
filled with joy, excitement and a bit of nervousness when I said to
Fred, "Oh My! Emmitt is snorting! What kind of funny creature did we
buy?" My heart just melted and that was it. I was totally in love with
Pugs forever. I had no idea how my life would change.

I do not think Fred and I ever laughed so
much before Emmitt. It seemed everything he did, even if he was getting
into something he shouldn't, made me smile. Fred was definitely the
disciplinarian. I just could not get mad at Emmitt to scold him.

Well, right around that time, I started
sketching. I don't know why because I never could draw. I always loved
making things, but never felt I could draw more than stick figures.
Well, after meeting Emmitt and taking so many photos of him, I sat with
my #2 pencil, a notebook and a photo every night and sketched a pug.

In 2006, I honored these early drawings in a book,
Pug Doodles, A Journal,
for people to enjoy and follow their own hearts filling their books with
my pugs as company.

In 1999, I created my first
pug painting. I
remember being afraid to add color to my pugs and feeling slightly
guilty for spending $ on paints and canvases for myself. I am so glad I
pushed through that fear and doubt and just kept painting until I had a
breakthrough on my 5th painting, that I named A5.

A1

A2

A3

painting 5 - A5

The pug filling the canvas, capturing the
large eyes and the puggy expressions was my "ah
ha" moment. My style had begun.

In 2005, I left my day job and just started painting everyday. Over the
next year, I would come to paint over 50 paintings! If I painted 5 in a
year before that time, I was very happy with my accomplishment. To my
surprise, most of my paintings that year were not pugs at all, but other
dog breeds, I call Pug Pals.

In 2006, I realized all of these expressive faces were actually
characters in another children's book I had yet to write that became the
story, Why Am I
Special?